We are so in love with the
Jacksonville Zoo, and have been since we were kids. Getting to work with them on so many projects
is a dream come true. We were asked to
work on the Spooktacular project again this year and were thrilled to get the
email. It came later than in years past
and we were resolving ourselves to the idea that we weren’t going to be involved
for 2014. While a little sad we had made
peace with it. Then, the message came in
and we were on for this exciting, rewarding, fun, and to be honest intensely
demanding project.
We have
them drop off the costumes after they close the gates each night, and that
means we get started at around 11pm or so each night. The Zoo van pulls up in the dark of our
parking lot, most of our neighboring businesses have long since closed for the
night, and container after container of well used costumes pour into our
shop. Since most of the items are
machine washable or hand washed we can do it all right in the back of our
shop. We get to work sorting by material
and color to make sure no dyes bleed over.
The first things to get washed are the mascots. They take extra time to dry and we want to
make sure that the next volunteers to don the visages of the tiger, the alligator,
the rhino, and the others are stepping into a pleasantly clean and properly
dried outfit. The rest of the night is a
fury of treating stains, checking pockets for bits of candy and snacks,
removing hay, and washing washing washing.
We are
lucky to have two sets of washers and dryers in the back of our shop that we
normally use to pre-clean stained items before we send them to our plant for
final cleaning and pressing. Yes,
stained items in our shop get washed at least twice. This setup of two washer and dryers has
proven to be a requirement for cleaning all of the animals, zombies, witches,
and other cast of characters that make Spooktacular the best family friendly
Halloween event bar none. Wouldn’t you
know it though, this year one of our washers went out on us half way through leaving
us with just one washing machine and hundreds of costumes to clean each
night. OH NO!
After
some failed attempts to revive the fallen washer and some debate on our part as
to what to do, we decided to look for a used machine to fill in for the rest of
the project until we had time to fix the broken unit. We looked and debated and before we knew it
the next night of Spooktacular was on us with only one washer. What normally takes six hours of washing took over eight. This was grueling. So the next day we were up early on 3 hours
of sleep and we picked up a used machine to bolster our ranks. Uh oh, a dud.
It wasn’t working either. So
again a long night of only one machine.
We had decided to finish out the project on one washer and deal with it
after things settled down a bit.
So one
morning after getting home at 8:30 am we get a call from the shop at 9:30
telling us the only remaining washer had jammed up. Oh the luck we have. We had decided that we could finish out the
project on one washer, but could we do it on none? Of course not, just a silly question asked on
one hour of sleep. So out we run to
solve this crisis before the next load of goblins and ghouls was brought to us
for cleaning. First, to the shop to
tinker with the freshly broken washer.
An hour of trial and error and a few cuts later it was working
again. Then it was off to the other side
of town to exchange the used washer we had gotten a few days ago for another. Back at the shop 3 hours later with fingers
crossed we put the replacement used washer in place and what luck, it works. In six hours we went from no washers to two
working washers. I felt like a super
hero.
The
rest of the project went as smooth as a tiger’s dance moves (you had to have
gone to Spooktacular to understand). All
of the zombies, animals, pirates, storybook heroes, and other creatures of the
night have now been cleaned and laid to rest until next Halloween when they
will once again come alive to thrill and delight the wide-eyed visitors to
Jacksonville Zoo’s Spooktacular 2015. We
will be there, will you?
Epilogue:
Upon further investigation into why our two primary washers
stopped working, it was found that they
had ingested a large amount of hay, the kind horses eat. While delicious for cows, it is not so great
for drain pumps. Clearing this material
has restored our machines to full washing vigor. Just one of the tricks of Halloween 2014.
